


Law of Surprise (Egyptia AU)

by djinmer4



Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Slavery, Egyptia AU, Gen, The Law of Surprise (The Witcher)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:15:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24001936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/djinmer4/pseuds/djinmer4
Summary: I wasn't actually going to post this here, but @mikeellee pointed out we've all posted an Egyptia AU now, so it only seemed fair to stick this here.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

Kitty’s certain she doesn’t like their current client. He’s abrasive to his workers, touchy about his pride, and never forgets when he’s been ‘disrespected’. He had his good points though. He was honest to a fault, didn’t traffick in humans of any sort, and always paid his debts. Not to mention that with the Cold War brewing between Wakanda and Khonshu, he was still brave enough to traverse the no man’s land between the two countries. So when at the end of the trip at Thinis he comes to her personally to offer her and Piotr a bonus, she’s left with a dilemma.

She had a pretty good idea that this was coming. With both nations pulling back their patrols to avoid ‘provoking’ the other, the border had become a savage place, filled with bandits, hostile wildlife, and even more dangerous things that were neither man nor animal. This time the caravan had been attacked by a lone Man-Wolf, that she and Piotr had killed. While Piotr in his metal form held him down, Kitty had stabbed it through the heart with a silver-plated ceremonial dagger she’d stolen off a priest. (She heard that in the North, there were mercenaries who carried pure silver swords to slay monsters but she didn’t want to think of how much money it would take to make something like that.) The Man-Wolf had already been injured when it had attacked the caravan, but still managed to kill three other guards before they had taken it down.

But that was the past and she had a different problem now. Ask for something too small and the merchant will take offense. Ask for something of actual worth, and he’ll hold a grudge in the future. And dammit, she needed to keep this contact if she was to keep going back and forth between the Kingdoms. But maybe . . . “I claim the Law of Surprise.” She doesn’t bother to clarify which version of the Law of Surprise she’s claiming. The merchant will probably pass her a dirty mug to fulfill the claim, but she’s already gotten paid so even that won’t hurt their finances. And the merchant won’t balk at hiring her or her people again in the future.

“ _That which holds value but is of no value to you_ , eh?” His eyes brighten. “I’ve got the perfect thing!”

The perfect thing turns out to be a visible mutant, blue and furry with deformed hands and feet and a tail. Not to mention beaten half to death. “What the hell?” She looks up. “You don’t deal with slaves!” None of the remaining merchants who cross the border did. The Upper Kingdom had passed laws declaring every slave that passes into their territory automatically free so merchants who were afraid of losing their stock or employees were now limited to working solely in the Lower Kingdom. Of course, to get away, the slaves have to be aware of the law first, and it’s in Khonshu’s interest to keep them ignorant.

“I don’t, but someone passed him to me in Memphis when _I_ claimed the Law of Surprise. Rather than sell him there, I figured I’d at least bring him to the Upper Kingdom. He’s better off here than there.” At the look on her face, he hastily adds, “I’ll throw in some clothes and a crate of my best wine as well! And some medical supplies!”

Kitty accepts, keeping her thoughts behind her teeth. The merchant could guess what she is, probably thinks she’s better equipped to deal with an abused mutant than he is. And damn it, he’s right, even if she is just a low-level member of a cell. This man’s going to be a drain on her resources, but she can’t bring herself to abandon him. She gets her shoulder under his armpit and guides (more like half-carries) him along the street of Thinis, while Piotr carries the rest of their payment back to their base.

* * *

He’s well aware of his latest master’s distaste for him. Too dangerous to be kept healthy but too weak to be of any use when he’s not. He’s not surprised when he’s sold to the Wakandan merchant, the only thing his master hates more than a useless burden is being indebted to someone.

The new man is befuddled and also surprisingly naive. The Wakandan clearly has no idea who he is or what he could do, doesn’t understand why the last master thought beating him until he could barely move was a good security measure. He’s hustled into a cage and hidden under a tarp before he can learn more, then loaded onto a wagon. He can’t see anything, but he hears the guards at the gates and knows that finally, after at least five years, he’s leaving Memphis.

The Wakandan’s naivety continues after they’ve left the walls. He’s kept in his cage beneath the tarp, but they give him water and food, and occasionally throw a bucket of Nile water over him. It’s not a lot, not nearly enough for him to hope to teleport out of here, but that combined with no longer having to fend off attacks while he dozed is enough to start healing.

He’s still not in good enough condition to escape by the time the caravan gets to a new city and he’s sold once again. He keeps his eyes half shut, and staggers when they let him out of the cage this time, playing up being more injured than he really is. He doesn’t know these new people but the longer they think him harmless, the longer he has a chance to recover and regain his strength. And after that?

That Wakandan had been the only kind master he’s had in years. He’d resolved not to take any revenge on that one. But the rest of them? The rest of them were fair game.


	2. Why Nightcrawler Had to Die

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wasn't it kind of odd that Khonshu doesn't step in to save them until Nightcrawler's already dead? Maybe Spector's sting operation had more than one target.

Colonel Zuri stepped into the room. “Pryde-” he cut himself off and looked around. “Where’s your shadow?”

Kitty got up and stretched, arching her back. She’d been writing after-action mission reports all morning and her back and shoulders were killing her. “Right now?” She glanced out the window. “Just finished training with the newbies. He’ll probably be here in a few minutes with lunch. Why?”

“It’s good he isn’t here then,” Zuri stepped closer to her. “Alistaire just woke up.”

She was puzzled by the frown on her colonel’s face. “That’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

“It is,” he nodded. “What’s not so good is that he claims he saw Nightcrawler get bitten during that last engagement before he got knocked out.”

“What?” She didn’t slam her hands down on her desk but it was a near thing. “That’s impossible! It’s been three days since the battle and he’s been sleeping at my feet like usual. I would have noticed if he’d been turned.”

The older man’s eyes glazed over as he pondered. “I wondered about that. Alistaire’s a good man, but he’s not the best observer in the middle of a fight, especially at night. Still, we do need to check anyway. Not every infectee turns on the first night and the full moon is tomorrow. If he was bitten, we’ll have to cage him like the other potential infectees until we’re certain he hasn’t been turned.”

Kitty grit her teeth. “Nightcrawler’s not going to like that.”

“Not like what?” The indigo man had entered the room on silent feet, carrying a fragrant package. He shut the door with his tail and placed the food on Kitty’s desk. He’d bought fuul for her and kebabs for himself and small beer for both of them. Perching on the side table, he pulled out a handful of change and entertained himself by playing around with it.

Zuri didn’t pull any punches. “Alistaire said you got bitten in the last fight.”

Nightcrawler was already devouring his food but nodded anyway. Kitty sucked in a breath. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

Yellow eyes switched back and forth between the two officers. “Why matter? Bite heal clean, not worry about it.” He tossed the skewer onto the desk and then reached up to unwrap his left forearm. Indeed, underneath the bandages were _two_ bite marks, although both looked too old to have been from the fight three days ago. Zuri grimaced. “Nightcrawler, do you know how people are turned into Man-Beasts?”

The mercenary shrugged. “Curse, yes? Nightcrawler saw priests dragging men and women being dragged to altars while Nightcrawler was locked up in temple.” He raised one deformed hand to gesture to his eyes. “Tattoos on face and then change into _vulk_ at high noon.”

Kitty gentled her voice as much as she could. “The Man-Beast transformation-” She switched her word choice when she saw the downward twist of his lips that signaled confusion on her companion. “The change itself is a curse but can be spread by biting.”

The other man shook his head. “Curse no work that way.”

Zuri said, “They usually don’t but Khonshu’s developed something new. People who get bitten by Man-Beasts have a 90% chance of turning.” He eyed the still visible wounds. “100% chance if they’ve been bitten more than once.”

Nightcrawler was still shaking his head. “Nightcrawler been bitten before. Many times even. In the fight before priests put Nightcrawler in cage. Often after that. Nothing ever happen.”

“You might have been lucky the first few times,” Zuricontinued. “Or it’s possible the second time you were only lightly gashed and it didn’t really break skin.” The indigo man simply pointed to the two very deep bite marks on his arm. “There have been people who haven’t changed after being bitten, which is why we don’t just kill all the potential infectees. But Wakanda can’t afford to have a Man-Beast going wild in Birnin Zana on the full moon so-”

Nightcrawler was not an idiot, even if he still had a lot of trouble with the language. “-the cage?”

Kitty squeezed his shoulder. “I’ll be right there. All Man-Beasts have to change with the full moon so they need people who can’t be bitten to guard everyone.” _And execute anyone who turns_ she didn’t say.

* * *

The cages are large and sturdier than they look. Depending on when they were exposed, people could be quarantined up to a month to see if they would finally change with the full moon. And with Vibranium woven through the bars, they would throw back any attempt by Beasts to break out. Or break in, if any of the quarantined people didn’t change with the moon, they would need protection from their neighbors. Isolated people yelled or prayed or tried to sleep. From the high wall, Kitty watched Alistaire pace back and forth while Nightcrawler simply crouched into a corner. She and Colossus and Logan watched, as the sun went down and they waited for the moon to come up.

Then the howling began.

“One, two, three, damn,” swore Logan. “Looks like everyone got infected this time.”

“Not everyone,” demurred Piotr. “Alistaire’s fine.” Indeed, Captain Smythe was still human and had moved to the middle of the cage to avoid provoking his now monstrous neighbors.

“Nightcrawler’s fine too,” said Kitty, breathing a sigh of relief. “Alistaire must have been mistaken, he only got bitten once.”

And then it happened.

“I thought Nightcrawler was the only teleporter this time!” shouted Logan.

“I thought he was too!” One of the other victims had teleported outside of her cage. But rather than heading for Alistaire or Nightcrawler, she attacked the crane used to transport the cages, doing enough damage that the machine toppled over onto another group of cages. The cages had been designed to withstand Man-Beast claws, not the multi-ton weight of the crane, and the small amount of Vibranium in the bars overloaded. Now they had half a dozen escapees.

Zuri hurriedly passed everyone’s swords out, giving Kitty one of Nightcrawler’s as well. He also opened up the flamethrowers near the stairs to prevent the Man-Beasts from getting out, but couldn’t activate the far side ones, since the two people who hadn’t changed were there.

Logan just jumped from the wall while Piotr turned his skin to metal and ran through the flames. Each of them managed to wrestle away one Man-Beast, but that still left four around the cages. Kitty skimmed the side, ignoring the other still trapped Man-Beasts, trying to reach Nightcrawler and Alistaire. The cages were keeping the two of them safe for now but with six Man-Beasts attacking them it was better to get them out now rather than wait until dawn. Nightcrawler could teleport out of the cage easily enough but without a weapon, doing so would be suicide.

She managed to take off the head of one from the side, but her second blow was badly aimed and got stuck in the creature’s shoulder. It turned to snarl at her and she let go of the blade, fumbling for the silver dagger at her waist and she ended up backing up into another cage. Too slow and her phasing blocked by the Vibranium, she was sure she was going to die.

Instead, there was a bamf of foul-smelling smoke and then Nightcrawler was in front of her. He shoved his arm into the creature’s mouth and its teeth snapped down. Even if she hadn’t seen the bite, she could smell the blood. Horrified, she closed her eyes and waited for her companion to transform then turn those fangs on her.

Instead, she heard Nightcrawler call out. “Sword!” He shouted. “Give sword!” Surprised she looked up and saw he’d swung around and had the Man-Beast in a chokehold. She tossed him his khopesh, which he caught with his tail, and finally had a chance to pull her own acinaces out of the Beast’s shoulder. Nightcrawler quickly beheaded the creature and the two of them focused on the last two monsters still free.

* * *

They’d won the fight and executed all the other infected. There had been some debate about caging Nightcrawler for another month, but the fact he hadn’t turned even though he’d been bitten again during the full moon had been pretty conclusive.

“Said curse not work like that.” His words were still clumsy but the tone of voice was clearly exasperated.

“No one’s ever seen anything like that,” said Zuri. “If someone doesn’t turn, it usually means they were actually mistaken about being bitten, but all four of us saw those teeth draw blood. Or they’re like Logan. He can fight off the curse, but it takes him hours of agony after being bitten.”

Nightcrawler frowned, then pointed at her and Piotr.

“Pete and I aren’t any more immune to the curse than anyone else. Our powers are good for not being bitten in the first place,” answered Kitty.

“You acted like that was nothing!” marveled Zuri. Then he frowned. “Although, now I’m confused. You said you were kept as a slave in the Temple of Khonshu. Did they never try to curse you directly?”

“They did.” He waved one hand at his eyes. “No see, but scar there.”

“And the curse didn’t take?”

The indigo man snorted. “Curse stupid. Priests not do curse right.”

“They didn’t do the curse _right?”_ Once again, Kitty really wished Nightcrawler knew enough of Xhosa to actually have a real conversation. Wherever the man had originally come from was very far away and clearly things were done very differently there.

He hesitated. “Curse is . . . curse cannot-” Nightcrawler shrugged and gave up, lacking the vocabulary to convey his idea across.

“The point is, you are completely immune to be transformed- changed that is, into a Man-Beast.” Zuri explicitly stated.

Nightcrawler nodded.

The colonel sat back. “Now, how can we use that to our advantage . . .”


End file.
